| 1. |
- Brodkorb, A., et al.
(författare)
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INFOGEST static in vitro simulation of gastrointestinal food digestion
- 2019
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Ingår i: Nature Protocols. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1754-2189 .- 1750-2799. ; 14:4, s. 991-1014
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Developing a mechanistic understanding of the impact of food structure and composition on human health has increasingly involved simulating digestion in the upper gastrointestinal tract. These simulations have used a wide range of different conditions that often have very little physiological relevance, and this impedes the meaningful comparison of results. The standardized protocol presented here is based on an international consensus developed by the COST INFOGEST network. The method is designed to be used with standard laboratory equipment and requires limited experience to encourage a wide range of researchers to adopt it. It is a static digestion method that uses constant ratios of meal to digestive fluids and a constant pH for each step of digestion. This makes the method simple to use but not suitable for simulating digestion kinetics. Using this method, food samples are subjected to sequential oral, gastric and intestinal digestion while parameters such as electrolytes, enzymes, bile, dilution, pH and time of digestion are based on available physiological data. This amended and improved digestion method (INFOGEST 2.0) avoids challenges associated with the original method, such as the inclusion of the oral phase and the use of gastric lipase. The method can be used to assess the endpoints resulting from digestion of foods by analyzing the digestion products (e.g., peptides/amino acids, fatty acids, simple sugars) and evaluating the release of micronutrients from the food matrix. The whole protocol can be completed in ~7 d, including ~5 d required for the determination of enzyme activities.
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| 2. |
- Lennon, Matthew J., et al.
(författare)
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Use of Antihypertensives, Blood Pressure, and Estimated Risk of Dementia in Late Life An Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis
- 2023
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Ingår i: JAMA NETWORK OPEN. - 2574-3805. ; 6:9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- IMPORTANCE The utility of antihypertensives and ideal blood pressure (BP) for dementia prevention in late life remains unclear and highly contested. OBJECTIVES To assess the associations of hypertension history, antihypertensive use, and baseline measured BP in late life (age >60 years) with dementia and the moderating factors of age, sex, and racial group. DATA SOURCE AND STUDY SELECTION Longitudinal, population-based studies of aging participating in the Cohort Studies of Memory in an International Consortium (COSMIC) group were included. Participants were individuals without dementia at baseline aged 60 to 110 years and were based in 15 different countries (US, Brazil, Australia, China, Korea, Singapore, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Sweden, and Greece). DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS Participants were grouped in 3 categories based on previous diagnosis of hypertension and baseline antihypertensive use: healthy controls, treated hypertension, and untreated hypertension. Baseline systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) were treated as continuous variables. Reporting followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses of Individual Participant Data reporting guidelines. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The key outcome was all-cause dementia. Mixed-effects Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the associations between the exposures and the key outcome variable. The association between dementia and baseline BP was modeled using nonlinear natural splines. The main analysis was a partially adjusted Cox proportional hazards model controlling for age, age squared, sex, education, racial group, and a random effect for study. Sensitivity analyses included a fully adjusted analysis, a restricted analysis of those individuals with more than 5 years of follow-up data, and models examining the moderating factors of age, sex, and racial group. RESULTS The analysis included 17 studies with 34 519 community dwelling older adults (20 160 [58.4%] female) with a mean (SD) age of 72.5 (7.5) years and a mean (SD) follow-up of 4.3 (4.3) years. In the main, partially adjusted analysis including 14 studies, individuals with untreated hypertension had a 42% increased risk of dementia compared with healthy controls (hazard ratio [HR], 1.42; 95% CI 1.15-1.76; P =.001) and 26% increased risk compared with individuals with treated hypertension (HR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.03-1.53; P =.02). Individuals with treated hypertension had no significant increased dementia risk compared with healthy controls (HR, 1.13; 95% CI, 0.99-1.28; P =.07). The association of antihypertensive use or hypertension status with dementia did not vary with baseline BP. There was no significant association of baseline SBP or DBP with dementia risk in any of the analyses. There were no significant interactions with age, sex, or racial group for any of the analyses. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE This individual patient data meta-analysis of longitudinal cohort studies found that antihypertensive usewas associated with decreased dementia risk compared with individuals with untreated hypertension through all ages in late life. Individuals with treated hypertension had no increased risk of dementia compared with healthy controls.
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| 3. |
- Schimpf, Ulrike, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Topical reinforcement of the cervical mucus barrier to sperm
- 2022
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Ingår i: Science Translational Medicine. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 1946-6234 .- 1946-6242. ; 14:673
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Close to half of the world’s pregnancies are still unplanned, reflecting a clear unmet need in contraception. Ideally, a contraceptive would provide the high efficacy of hormonal treatments, without systemic side effects. Here, we studied topical reinforcement of the cervical mucus by chitosan mucoadhesive polymers as a form of female contraceptive. Chitosans larger than 7 kDa effectively cross-linked human ovulatory cervical mucus to prevent sperm penetration in vitro. We then demonstrated in vivo using the ewe as a model that vaginal gels containing chitosan could stop ram sperm at the entrance of the cervical canal and prevent them from reaching the uterus, whereas the same gels without chitosan did not substantially limit sperm migration. Chitosan did not affect sperm motility in vitro or in vivo, suggesting reinforcement of the mucus physical barrier as the primary mechanism of action. The chitosan formulations did not damage or irritate the ewe vaginal epithelium, in contrast to nonoxynol-9 spermicide. The demonstration that cervical mucus can be reinforced topically to create an effective barrier to sperm may therefore form the technological basis for muco-cervical barrier contraceptives with the potential to become an alternative to hormonal contraceptives.
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| 4. |
- Vos, Stephanie J B, et al.
(författare)
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Modifiable Risk Factors for Prevention ofDementia in Midlife, Late Life and the Oldest-Old: Validation of the LIBRA Index.
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD. - 1875-8908. ; 58:2, s. 537-547
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recently, the LIfestyle for BRAin health (LIBRA) index was developed to assess an individual's prevention potential for dementia.We investigated the predictive validity of the LIBRA index for incident dementia in midlife, late life, and the oldest-old.9,387 non-demented individuals were recruited from the European population-based DESCRIPA study. An individual's LIBRA index was calculated solely based on modifiable risk factors: depression, diabetes, physical activity, hypertension, obesity, smoking, hypercholesterolemia, coronary heart disease, and mild/moderate alcohol use. Cox regression was used to test the predictive validity of LIBRA for dementia at follow-up (mean 7.2y, range 1-16).In midlife (55-69y, n=3,256) and late life (70-79y, n=4,320), the risk for dementia increased with higher LIBRA scores. Individuals in the intermediate- and high-risk groups had a higher risk of dementia than those in the low-risk group. In the oldest-old (80-97y, n=1,811), higher LIBRA scores did not increase the risk for dementia.LIBRA might be a useful tool to identify individuals for primary prevention interventions of dementia in midlife, and maybe in late life, but not in the oldest-old.
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